HMS Petard was a "P"-class

O and P class destroyer

The O and P class was a class of destroyers of the British Royal Navy. Ordered in 1939, they were the first ships in the War Emergency Programme, also known as the 1st and 2nd Emergency Flotilla, respectively...

 destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 of the British Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 that saw service during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She was one of the three "P" class ships, out of the original eight, to survive the war in a serviceable condition.

She recovered materials which greatly assisted the decoding of the German Enigma

Enigma machine

An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...

 cypher machine, albeit at the cost of the lives of her First Lieutenant, Anthony Fasson and Able Seaman Colin Grazier

Colin Grazier

Able Seaman Colin Grazier was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the "outstanding bravery and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of danger" which he displayed on 30 October 1942 in action in the Mediterranean.-WW2 heroics:...

, both of whom were drowned when the U-boat they were searching sank with them inside.

Originally to have been named HMS Persistent, Petard was launched in March 1941. She initially carried the pennant number G56, which was changed after the war to F56.

Petard had the distinction of sinking a submarine from each of the three Axis navies: the German U-559

Unterseeboot 559

German submarine U-559 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for the German Kriegsmarine for service during World War II.Built in 1941 at the Blohm & Voss shipyards in Hamburg, she was most famous for an incident during her sinking in the Mediterranean Sea in 1942, in which British sailors seized...

, the Italian Uarsciek and the Japanese I-27

Japanese submarine I-27

I-27 was a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy which saw service during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. I-27 was commissioned at Sasebo, Japan on February 24, 1942. The sub's commander, Commander Fukumura, had a history of machine-gunning survivors of ships she had sunk, including the...

.

The early years

Petard was launched on 27 March 1941 at Walker's shipyard in Newcastle, on the River Tyne. Accommodation was basic, the officers had a cabin each in the aft of the ship, which doubled as office space. The ratings were housed in messes forward and slept in hammocks. As a result of these locations, confusion could arise when 'action stations' were sounded which might involve the officers making their way forward towards the bridge while gun-crews attempted to move aft to the stern armament.

She was fitted out and handed over to "a mainly untried crew" on 15 July 1942. Although the ship was fitted with radar, it was relatively primitive, so the need for a good visual watch was regarded as crucial. Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Stephen Beattie

Stephen Halden Beattie

Captain Stephen Halden Beattie VC was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:...

 who would go on to win the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 in the St Nazaire raid. He was replaced by Lt Cmdr Mark Thornton DSC

Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...

 on 28 April, (he had come from HMS Harvester

HMS Harvester (H19)

HMS Harvester was an H-class destroyer originally ordered by the Brazilian Navy with the name Jurua in the late 1930s, but was bought by the Royal Navy after the beginning of World War II in September 1939. Almost immediately after commissioning, in May 1940, the ship began evacuating Allied troops...

; his DSC was for sinking a German U-boat). He worked the ship's company hard in training.

Convoy WS 21

Petard began operations in late July as part of the naval escort of a Middle East-bound convoy, WS 21, (via the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

). It was an inauspicious baptism; two Sunderland

Short Sunderland

The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....

 flying boats were shot down by the convoy's gunners and HMS Ledbury

HMS Ledbury (L90)

HMS Ledbury was an escort destroyer of the Hunt Type II class. The Royal Navy ordered Ledbury's construction two days after the outbreak of the Second World War and J. I. Thornycroft Ltd laid down her keel at their Southampton yard on 24 January 1940. Air raid damage to the yard delayed her...

, another escort, collided with a ship from an inbound convoy, MG 86, in fog.

The convoy steamed south, into improving weather. Thornton seemed to live up to his reputation for eccentricity, standing for long periods on the upper yard, tied to the mast, ensuring the crews' state of alert was maintained by pelting those below him that he thought needed stimulation with objects brought from his pockets. Some officers took to wearing their steel helmets.

Stopping off for fuel in Simon's town, South Africa, Petards crew were granted some free time. This proved to be too much for three gun-layers, who missed the ship's sailing. Training continued, at one point soap was spread on the upper deck to make keeping one's footing difficult, thunderflashes were also used and the ship given an artificial list, simulating realistic battle conditions. During this period, Petard suffered her first fatality when the wardroom chef collapsed and died. He was buried at sea.

The rest of the voyage, via the eastern passage off Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 and through the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

, culminated with the negotiation of the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

 and passed without incident.

The Mediterranean, part one

Having seen the convoy deliver its cargo, Petard joined the 12th destroyer flotilla in Port Said

Port Said

Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...

 on 22 September. Two days later she used her guns in anger for the first time against three JU 88

Junkers Ju 88

The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...

 aircraft. The result was inconclusive.

Back in her mooring, the ship's First Lieutenant had the opportunity to 'paint ship'; it was carried out under the watchful eye of the Buffer (chief bosun's mate). Off-duty time was precious and sometimes amusing for the ships' crew. At one shore-side establishment, four of Petards officers had just entered as an improvised 'rodeo' of gharry

Gharry

A gharry or gharri is a horse-drawn cab used especially in India. A palkee gharry is shaped somewhat like a palanquin. A gharry driver is a gharry-wallah....

 horses was coming to an end. They were then involved with a fish-pond, a Lebanese singer and a move to an out-of-bounds area which saw the Royal Marine Patrol concerned with their welfare.

For the next few days Petard and the Greek destroyer Queen Olga took part in anti-submarine patrols and exercised with Allied submarines, improving the two ships' underwater hunting skills. On 12 October Petard and Pakenham

HMS Onslow (G17)

HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer flotilla leader of the Royal Navy She was ordered from John Brown & Company at Clydebank, Glasgow on 3 September 1939. The ship was laid down on 1 July 1940 and launched on 31 March 1941. She was completed on 8 October 1941 at a cost of £416,942.Attached to the...

moved to Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

 to escort the cruiser Arethusa

HMS Arethusa (26)

HMS Arethusa was the name ship of her class of light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. She was built by Chatham Dockyard , with the keel being laid down on 25 January 1933...

to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

. The voyage included drills and tactics for the protection of convoys. Also in attendance were the cruisers Cleopatra

HMS Cleopatra (33)

HMS Cleopatra was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited , with the keel being laid down on 5 January 1939...

, Orion

HMS Orion (85)

HMS Orion was a Leander class light cruiser which served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II.She received 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others.-History:...

and Euryalus

HMS Euryalus (42)

HMS Euryalus was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built at Chatham Dockyard UK), with the keel being laid down on 21 October 1937. She was launched on 6 June 1939, and commissioned 30 June 1941. Euryalus was the last cruiser that Chatham Dockyard built.-Mediterranean Service:-Second...

and their attendant fleet destroyers.

On 24 October 1942 she took part in the abortive interception of a German force said to be heading for Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

.

The U-559 action

On 30 October a Sunderland flying boat reported the sighting of a submarine north of the Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

 delta area.Petard, with Pakenham, Dulverton

HMS Dulverton (L63)

HMS Dulverton was a Type II Hunt class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1941, she saw service during the Second World War until being damaged by German aircraft in 1943 during the Battle of Leros, and was scuttled....

, Hurworth and Hero

HMS Hero (H99)

HMS Hero was an H-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1930s. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 the ship enforced the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides as part of the Mediterranean Fleet...

, was involved in the sinking of U-559. After many hours of searching and attacks with depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s, the U-boat was forced to the surface. Both Petard and Hurworth engaged the U-boat with their "pom-poms

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

" and Oerlikon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

s after the main armament (4.7 inch guns) was found to be ineffective. With illumination from the searchlights of both Petard and Hurworth, the First Lieutenant, Anthony Fasson and Able Seaman Colin Grazier swam across to the U-boat, went below and proceeded to gather code-books and other important documents together for transfer to the Petard. They were helped by a 16 year old NAAFI

Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes is an organisation created by the British government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families...

 canteen assistant, Tommy Brown

Tommy Brown (GM)

Thomas William Brown GM English recipient of the George Medal, and is the youngest person to have ever received that award...

, who was originally thought to have swum across to the sinking submarine as well; but when asked at the subsequent inquiry how he had boarded the U-Boat, he testified that he "got on board just forward of the whaler on the port side when the deck was level with the conning tower". That whaler, under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Connell, went alongside the U-boat in the darkness.

When Brown was asked what conditions were like below, he replied:

The lights were out — the First Lieutenant had a torch [flashlight]. The water was not very high but rising gradually all the time. When I came up the last time it was about two feet deep. There was a hole just forward of the conning tower through which water was pouring. As I went down through the conning tower compartment I felt it pouring down my back. Water was also coming in where plates were stove in on either side of the conning tower.

He went on:

I saw Grazier and then the First Lieutenant also appeared at the bottom of the hatch. I shouted 'you had better come up' twice, and they had just started when the submarine started to sink very quickly. I managed to jump off and was picked up by the whaler.

Later awarded the George Medal, Brown died in 1945 attempting to rescue his infant sister from a fire in the family home in North Shields

North Shields

North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...

.

HMS Petard left the area for Haifa, signalling that documents had been captured. The codebooks they retrieved were immensely valuable to the Ultra

Ultra

Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...

 code-breakers at Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...

 in England; just six weeks after the action, many U-boat signals were being read. An Admiralty report on the sinking stated "The battle was largely won by persistence". The German engineer officer said that prior to abandoning ship he had opened the sea-cocks on the U-boat. Thornton, honouring a promise he had made to the shipyard, sent them a German U-boat seaman's lifejacket as a trophy.

Fasson and Grazier were awarded posthumous George Cross

George Cross

The George Cross is the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom, and also holds, or has held, that status in many of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations...

es, Brown the George Medal

George Medal

The George Medal is the second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.The GM was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. At this time, during the height of The Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage...

.

The 2000 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 U-571

U-571 (film)

U-571 is a 2000 film directed by Jonathan Mostow, and starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Thomas Kretschmann, Jon Bon Jovi, Jack Noseworthy, Will Estes, and Tom Guiry...

 drew on this and similar actions (U-110) for its plot.

Convoy escort

Petard, with Paladin

HMS Paladin (G69)

HMS Paladin was a P-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was built by John Brown and Co. Ltd., Clydebank...

was given the unenviable task on 9 November of entering Alexandria harbour and training torpedo tubes on ships of the Vichy French fleet while political negotiations were conducted for their transfer to Allied command. Almost immediately after the successful conclusion to this situation she sailed, with Queen Olga, as escort to two supply ships. The convoy was preceded by three minesweepers; their destination was Mersa Matruh, which had supposedly been re-captured from Axis forces. As dawn broke on the 12 November, a JU 88 was spotted, apparently on a reconnaissance mission. There was some doubt about the situation in Mersa Matruh; as a signal to that effect was being received, RDF

Range and Direction Finding

Range and Direction Finding was the initial technique and hardware in Great Britain that eventually came to be called 'radar.'Since the earliest days of radio , the signals had been used in direction finding on land, sea, and in the air...

 (radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

) reported a number of aircraft closing the convoy. Ten JU 88s began their bomb run. Petard was the only ship in the convoy with armament that could put up a creditable defence (although Queen Olga had larger calibre guns than Petard, they could not be elevated sufficiently for anti-aircraft use). After an initial flurry of bombs, which scored no hits, the German aircraft broke off to attack individually, at which point they were close enough for every gun in the convoy to engage them. The naval action was curtailed when four Spitfires

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

 attacked the bombers; the convoy had suffered only minor damage but was nonetheless ordered to return to Port Said, which, for the merchantmen only, was amended to Alexandria.

Convoy MW 13 and Operation Stoneage

Operation Stoneage

Operation Stone Age

During World War II, Operation Stone Age or Stoneage was the passage of MW13, the convoy of four merchant ships that reached Malta from Egypt on 20 November 1942 from Alexandria. Its arrival is considered to have broken the siege of that island...

 was part of the effort to re-supply Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

. Four merchantmen were to be escorted, initially by a total of nine warships, including Petard. The escort was reinforced with the addition of three cruisers and 14 more destroyers which set course for Malta on 17 November. Only one incident of note involved Petard at this time. An alert look-out spotted a dinghy which contained five RAF

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 men who had been shot down the previous day. The navigator surprised his rescuers after being picked up by running up to the bridge chart house to confirm his estimate of their position, thus winning a bet with his fellow survivors.

The first air raid, carried out by the Italian Regia Aeronautica

Regia Aeronautica

The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...

 (air force), commenced from high altitude in mid-afternoon. No serious damage was inflicted. It was followed by small groups of Italian and German aircraft, which did not press their attack home with any real conviction. It was only as dusk fell that the convoy faced a more determined onslaught, when six JU 88s loaded with torpedoes, approached the convoy from different directions. Those ships with sufficient 'sea-room' took evasive action. Some ships in the outer escort screen suffered damage from falling shell splinters from the close escort, a constant hazard.

The following morning more attacks were carried out by the Axis, but accurate bombing was discouraged by advantageous cloud cover, the escorts' barrage and the presence of Bristol Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter

The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...

s over the convoy. One attack, less desultory than most, was launched by six JU 88s on the starboard screen, Petard was the last ship in the line. Only a few near misses and violent manoeuvres by the escorts were the result.

In the evening of 18 November a force of 26 JU 88 torpedo bombers in three groups attacked the convoy's ships, silhouetted against the light from a pattern of air-dropped flares. The escorts' guns were firing in all directions, trying to distract the German aircraft. In the confusion the cruiser Arethusa

HMS Arethusa (26)

HMS Arethusa was the name ship of her class of light cruisers built for the Royal Navy. She was built by Chatham Dockyard , with the keel being laid down on 25 January 1933...

was hit by a torpedo.

Towing the Arethusa

Petard and Javelin

HMS Javelin (F61)

HMS Javelin was a J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited, at Clydebank in Scotland on 11 October 1937, launched on 21 December 1938, and commissioned on 10 June 1939....

were detached to offer assistance. Thornton, as senior officer, almost immediately sent Javelin back to the convoy, reasoning that Malta's survival had priority over Arethusas and that the convoy needed every ship. Petard then carried out ASDIC (later called active sonar) sweeps to discourage any submarine activity, and prepared to take the crippled ship in tow.

With everything ready, the tow began, rising to a speed of 10 knots in the first hour. Arethusa had adopted a 15 degree list which was reduced to five degrees over six hours by jettisoning upper-deck fittings and transferring liquids; this also improved the cruiser's steering. Exchanges of signals to increase speed (to get inside air cover before dawn), were interrupted when the tow-line parted. It was reinstated, and the tow resumed at five knots. At dawn on 19 November the two ships were being shadowed by a German reconnaissance plane, which was chased away by a pair of Beaufighters, but reported the tow's position. Two high-level attacks were then mounted, but driven off by a combination of the ships' guns and the escorting Beaufighters.

The worsening weather was causing serious strain on the cruiser's hull and it was decided to continue the tow with Arethusa stern-first. The tow was slipped and re-connected with some difficulty; by this time Thornton had been on the bridge for three days. The bridge staff were also exhausted; off-duty seamen were pressed into moving the heavy towing hawsers into position. Once everything was in place, the tow towards Alexandria continued at three knots.

One determined attack came in the afternoon from four JU 88s. Petard was straddled, the closest bomb landing just 15 yards from the ship. But once again there were no hits. This turned out to be the last offensive action.

On the cruiser, casualty signals were sent; Arethusa had suffered 157 dead, and the captain was amongst the wounded. On Petard men got a little rest, sleeping where they could. News came through that Convoy MW 13 had reached Malta successfully, the first for nearly two years. By noon on 19 November the storm looked like it would blow itself out. Two tugs, despatched from Alexandria, took over the tow into the harbour which was completed on 20 November.

More convoy escort work

On 23 November Petard led Paladin with the two merchantmen originally destined for Mersa Matruh and an armed merchant cruiser loaded with reinforcements to Tobruk. Entry to the shattered port was made difficult by sunken ships and other underwater obstacles. Thornton went ashore for a guided tour by the garrison commander. On their return to Port Said, the two "P"s were separated; Paladin entered the harbour while Petard shepherded a motley collection of vessels along the coast to Alexandria. Petard was ordered to return her charges to Port Said due to recent German mine-laying; a minesweeper was lost.

Another Malta convoy under the code-name Operation Portcullis

Operation Portcullis

Operation Portcullis was a British naval operation to deliver a convoy of four merchant ships to the Mediterranean island of Malta. It occurred during November and December 1942, at a time when the strategic situation in the region had radically changed in the Allies' favour and convoys were under...

, MW 14, commenced just fifteen days after its predecessor. Four merchant ships, including a tanker, were to be escorted to the embattled island by warships similar in numbers and strength to MW 13. On the second day out, a remarkable coincidence occurred when the crew of a Wellington

Vickers Wellington

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...

 bomber were picked up by Petard in the same area as the first recovery. They, too, had spent about 24 hours adrift after being shot down.

The empty ships, as ME 11, returned to Port Said. It was during this journey that Petard shot down her first enemy aircraft, on 7 December 1942.

Petard and Queen Olga went to the assistance of a small convoy which was under constant air attack. The destroyers had been diverted from a run to Malta with a cargo of important spare parts. Reaching Tobruk, they spent a relatively peaceful night in the wreck-strewn anchorage, before going on to Benghazi on 13 December. Here it was a different story; a heavy raid was under way as the two ships entered the harbour. A tanker was hit and soon burning, but the inferno did not deter a party of RASC

Royal Army Service Corps

The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...

 soldiers who unloaded their stores with studied nonchalance.

The Uarsciek action

While on her way to Malta with Queen Olga from Benghazi on 15 December 1942, Petard (still under the command of Lt Cmdr Thornton), engaged and sank the Italian submarine Usarciek. At first it was thought that the Usarciek might be the British submarine P-35, but in the darkness the Italian vessel fired two torpedoes which Petard successfully 'combed' by turning between the torpedo tracks. She then replied with two depth charge patterns followed by one from Queen Olga which forced the damaged submarine to the surface 200 yards from Petard. She was illuminated by both ship's searchlights. Men seen on the casing were then engaged by Petards guns. There are some discrepancies in the recollections of crew members about the gun action, but what is known is that Petard "half-rammed" the submarine which sank some time later. The two destroyers were rapturously received on their arrival in Malta. Petard subsequently spent time in dry dock in Alexandria for repairs to her bows following the collision.

Two DSO

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

s, one DSC, two DSM

Distinguished Service Medal (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Navy and members of the other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, up to and including the rank of Chief Petty Officer, for bravery and resourcefulness on active service...

s and several Mention in Despatches (MiD) were awarded for the action. The Greek King

George II of Greece

George II reigned as King of Greece from 1922 to 1924 and from 1935 to 1947.-Early life, first period of kingship and exile:George was born at the royal villa at Tatoi, near Athens, the eldest son of King Constantine I of Greece and his wife, Princess Sophia of Prussia...

, as well as decorating his own men, also awarded the Military Cross, Third Class, to Thornton.

New captain

Thorton's last operation with the ship was commanding the escort of a slow convoy to Alexandria, leaving Haifa on 31 December 1942. Petard went into dry dock once more when it was discovered that the previous visit was unsatisfactory. Thornton left the ship without ceremony on 9 January 1943 at his own request. The strain of command had taken its toll. One of his last actions was to send the ceremonial colours from the Uarsiek to Walkers Yard in Newcastle. It was to be the last such gift.

His replacement was Lieutenant Commander Rupert Egan RN, who joined from his previous command, HMS Croome

HMS Croome (L62)

HMS Croome was a Hunt class Type-II destroyer of the Royal Navy. She served during the Second World War, spending much of the time in the Mediterranean, operating from the ports at Gibraltar and Alexandria.-Sinking of the Baracca:...

.

1943

As a result of successful trials following the repairs, Petard, with Pakenham and Queen Olga were ordered south, through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea. They were to rendezvous off Perim

Perim

Perim is a volcanic island strategically located in the Strait of Mandeb at the southern entrance into the Red Sea, off the southwestern coast of Yemen, at . It has a surface area of 13 square kilometers and rises to an altitude of 65 meters. The island has a natural harbour on its southwestern...

 island with convoy 'Phomplett'. This group of large, but empty, ships was bound for Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

). With other Mediterranean-based vessels, the three ships escorted the 'troopers' to a mid-ocean meeting point where craft from the Eastern fleet took over on 8 February. The 12th flotilla ships then turned about. On the return journey they passed the crippled cruiser Arethusa which was making her way to the US for permanent repairs.

In support of 8th Army's advance westward, Petard became part of the escort for a 24-ship convoy to Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

; departing Alexandria on 17 February. Arriving without incident on the 21st, the harbour entrance was found to be still partially blocked, compelling the ships to discharge their human cargoes into lighters and landing craft. That evening, Petard sailed to Tobruk with a troop carrier, and for six days ran a shuttle service to the new front, west of Tripoli.

Food captured from the Italians was issued to the ships, but in many instances the labels had come off the tins; discovering the identity of the contents became a bit hit and miss. Fruit was at a premium, so when some of the crew came across a party of soldiers who had a cache of peaches but no cigarettes, it did not take long for a deal to be struck.

Club runs

The 12th destroyer flotilla was to be based in Malta, a reflection on the war situation. Petard, along with many other ships, was to participate in Operation Retribution

Operation Retribution

During the Second World War, Operation Retribution was the air and naval blockade designed to prevent the seaborne evacuation of Axis forces from Tunisia to Sicily...

, the Allied effort to prevent German and Italian forces from reinforcing their garrisons in Tunisia. Naval forces were to also prevent evacuation or escape. One of the first Retribution offensive sweeps was carried out by Pakenham, Queen Olga and Petard on 16 March. These sweeps became known rather euphemistically as "The Club Runs".

Petard and her consorts were still involved in convoy escort work. On one occasion, their convoy was attacked by six JU 87

Junkers Ju 87

The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was a two-man German ground-attack aircraft...

 (Stuka) dive bombers escorted by ME 109 fighters. As the Stukas came out of the sun in a near vertical dive, the four-inch High Angle guns put out a barrage, firing up to 22 rounds a minute. Egan established his style of ship-handling, lying back in his bridge chair and wearing smoked glasses (against the sun's rays), while calling out helm and speed alterations. Three dive bombers were shot down; one, which narrowly missed the Queen Olga, by the accompanying Beaufighters. Ex-Leading Seaman

Leading Seaman

Leading seaman is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies, particularly those of the Commonwealth. When it is used by NATO nations, leading seaman has the rank code of OR-4. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of corporal and some navies use corporal rather than...

 Douglas Vowles cited Egan's commitment and skill as "saving my life and that of my shipmates many times over".

Petard, accompanied by Paladin, took part in a high-speed dash to bombard the port of Sousse

Sousse

Sousse is a city in Tunisia. Located 140 km south of the capital Tunis, the city has 173,047 inhabitants . Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The name may be of Berber origin: similar names are found in Libya and in...

 in Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 in early April 1943. Using charts captured from the Uarsciek, the two ships negotiated minefields and avoided German U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

s before reaching their objective. As they withdrew, they were intercepted by several E-boat

E-boat

E-boats was the designation for Motor Torpedo Boats of the German Navy during World War II. It is commonly held that the E stood for Enemy....

s. Both destroyers were raked by German machine gun fire, but there were no casualties, and only minor damage was sustained.

Petard was not so lucky on 24 April when she was strafed by an unknown plane or planes (sources vary). Four men were killed and buried at sea, a fifth died later in Malta; ten were wounded.

As the North Africa campaign neared its conclusion, Petard, with Paladin and Nubian

HMS Nubian (F36)

HMS Nubian was a Tribal-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw much distinguished service in World War II.She won 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others....

attacked and sank the Italian merchantman Compobasso and the destroyer Perseo off Cape Bon, the latter ship exploding within sight of the last Axis stronghold on 4 May. A hospital ship was intercepted and taken to the area of the sinkings to pick up survivors.

A bizarre situation was encountered when Petard came upon a launch towing a dinghy 30 miles from Kelibia

Kelibia

Kelibia is a coastal town on the Cap Bon peninsula, Nabeul province in the far northeastern part of Tunisia. Its sand beaches are considered one the finest of the Mediterranean sea....

 on 9 May. The two vessels contained 14 men – two RAF aircrew, 10 Germans and two Italians. The RAF men had been shot down, and the Germans and Italians were trying to escape to Sicily. The Germans had ordered the airmen into the launch and were trying to force the Italians into the dinghy. Inexplicably, the Italians were still armed when Petard was sighted. On her arrival off Sousse, the airmen and the prisoners were transferred to another ship.

As a recognition aid in the waters between Tunisia and Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, it was decided that all Allied vessels were to have their bridge structures painted red. By dawn on 11 May, ships were only covered slightly better than their crews.

The Sicilian campaign

The Allies

Allies

In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...

 then turned their attention to Sicily; Petard was involved from the outset. On the same day of the Axis surrender in North Africa (12 May), she joined Nubian and Isis

HMS Isis (D87)

HMS Isis was an I-class destroyer laid down by the Yarrow and Company, at Scotstoun in Glasgow on 6 February 1936, launched on 12 November 1936 and commissioned on 2 June 1937.-World War II:...

as escorts to the cruiser Orion

HMS Orion (85)

HMS Orion was a Leander class light cruiser which served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II.She received 13 battle honours, a record only exceeded by one other ship, and matched by two others.-History:...

within sight of 11-inch coastal guns on Pantellaria island; they fired two salvos which straddled Petard. A third salvo landed close enough to cause sufficient damage to ensure that the pumps had to be used all the way back to Malta.

On 16 May Petard picked up four Germans who had been floating on a raft made out of buoyancy containers. They were in such a death-like state that sea-birds had begun to peck at them. The following day a German hospital ship was intercepted. The search party sent to investigate discovered unwounded men in civilian clothes. The vessel was therefore sent to Malta for the interrogation of its passengers; while underway, a company of infantrymen and a number of support troops emerged from their hiding places. Automatic weapons, ammunition and explosives were subsequently found.

During a patrol between Cape Bon and Mattimo, Petard and Paladin came across a Walrus

Supermarine Walrus

The Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm . It also served with the Royal Air Force , Royal Australian Air Force , Royal Canadian Air Force , Royal New Zealand Navy and Royal New...

 amphibious aircraft that had been forced down by engine trouble. Petard towed the disabled flying boat to the former French base at Bizerta on 10 June.

Hopes of home leave were raised and dashed when Petard passed Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 and sailed out into the Atlantic only to join up with the incoming Sicily invasion force. She was patrolling on 10 July, the first day of the landings, but returned to Malta to embark Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight Eisenhower and his staff on 14 July and take them to the British beaches at Pachino

Pachino

Pachino is a town and comune in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily . The name derives from the Phoenician word pachum which means guardia in Italian ; an alternative origin is the Greek word paxum translating into fertile...

 and the Gulf of Noto

Noto

Noto is a city and comune in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily . Its located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and gives its name to the surrounding valley, Val di Noto...

. Having attended two conferences, Eisenhower re-embarked and was soon on his way back to Malta.

While shelling a road near Catania

Catania

Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

 with three other ships next day, Petard was hit by a round from a tank; the shell passed through the ship but caused little damage. She took part in other bombardments; on one she narrowly avoided an aerial torpedo, but was damaged on 30 July when going alongside the battleship Warspite at speed. She returned to Malta for repairs.

Italy

By the middle of August the occupation of Sicily was complete; General Bernard Montgomery's

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...

 8th Army could concentrate on the Italian mainland. Over the next month Petard was employed mostly on escort work, including being part of the screening force of 23 destroyers for the aircraft carriers Illustrious and Formidable and the battleships Nelson, Rodney, Warspite and Valiant

HMS Valiant (1914)

HMS Valiant was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. She was laid down at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan on 31 January 1913 and launched on 4 November 1914...

.

By 15 September the beaches at Salerno

Salerno

Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....

 were in crisis. The American Admiral in command of the invasion armada called for extra naval gun-fire support. Warspite and Valiant responded. Petard landed Warspites Forward Observation Officer, (FOO), using her cutter, then stayed close in-shore to use her own guns. The situation was eased.

That evening, while defending against a German bombing and torpedo attack, Petard came off worse in another encounter with Warspite. A six inch shell, thought to have come from the battleship, exploded in the forward seaman's mess deck; two men were killed, six others were wounded.

In early October Petard was based in Brindisi

Brindisi

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...

, from where she crossed the Adriatic

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

, searching coves and inlets between Iasun island and Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...

 for German shipping. It was after leaving the area for Malta and refuelling before moving to the Dodecanese

Dodecanese

The Dodecanese are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, of which 26 are inhabited. Τhis island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the Southern Sporades island group...

 islands, that the crew learned of the loss of the Queen Olga.

The Aegean

Petards Aegean campaign, in what became known as the "Destroyers' graveyard", began on 7 October 1943, the day that the island of Cos

Kos

Kos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...

 or Kos, fell to the Germans. She, with Panther

HMS Panther (G41)

HMS Panther was a P class destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down on 5 March 1940 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched on 28 May of the following year...

was escorting the anti-aircraft cruiser Carlisle

HMS Carlisle (D67)

HMS Carlisle was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, named after the English City of Carlisle. She was the name ship of the Carlisle group of the C-class of cruisers...

and searching at night, with two 'Hunt' class destroyers, for a German force reportedly heading for the island of Leros

Leros

Leros is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies 317 km from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 11-hour ferry ride . Leros is part of the Kalymnos peripheral unit...

. They withdrew at dawn, the two 'Hunts' being relieved by the Rockwood and the Greek ship Miaoulis

Greek destroyer Miaoulis (L91)

Miaoulis was a Hunt III class destroyer that was originally built for the British Royal Navy as HMS Modbury but never commissioned...

. The five-ship flotilla was attacked by sixteen Ju 87 dive bombers. Panther was sunk and Carlisle, hit four times, was damaged beyond repair. To make matters worse, air cover was reduced when American North Africa-based Lightning

P-38 Lightning

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...

s were transferred to the Central Mediterranean theatre. Petard made two trips to Leros at night with troops, vehicles and stores, hiding in neutral Turkish waters during the day. A third attempt had to be abandoned while Petard was in Leros harbour due to the severity of the bombing.

These reinforcement runs continued, with varying degrees of success. Air attacks were not the only worry: another threat was from mines. On 22/23 October Petard and another destroyer, Eclipse

HMS Eclipse (H08)

HMS Eclipse was an E class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean theatres during World War II, until sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea on 24 October 1943.-Service history:...

, acting after the loss of Hurworth and the Greek ship Adrias (which lost a third of her forward section before being beached), entered a minefield east (rather than west) of Kalymnos

Kalymnos

Kalymnos, is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum , between the islands of Kos and Leros : the latter is linked to it through a series of islets...

 Island. Eclipse was sunk with heavy loss of life, but Petard, picking up survivors, managed to withdraw to safety.

The tempo did not let up. On 24/25 October, after landing a naval base party at Leros, Petard moved to a Turkish bay to lay up for the day. She continued to be scrutinised by the Turks and buzzed by German aircraft. On another occasion, Turkish officials boarded the ship demanding to know when Petard might sail. It was only when shown a stripped-down (but perfectly serviceable) engine and being told that it was essential it was repaired that they relented. Wardroom hospitality also helped.

For Petards fifth Aegean sortie, Egan, as senior officer, was in charge of a three-destroyer flotilla loaded with men and stores that met up with the cruiser Aurora

HMS Aurora (12)

HMS Aurora was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard , with the keel being laid down on the 27 July 1935. She was launched on the 20 August 1936, and commissioned 12 November 1937....

on 30 October; her extra anti-aircraft firepower was soon needed. Having thwarted a high altitude attack, with help from accompanying Beaufighters, a further raid of 14 JU 87s succeeded in hitting Aurora amidships, killing 46 and wounding 20. Aurora withdrew, escorted by Beaufort

HMS Beaufort (L14)

HMS Beaufort was a Hunt class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was laid down on 17 July 1940 at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. She was launched on 9 June 1941 and commissioned on 3 November 1941....

. That left Petard and Belvoir to complete their mission to Leros. Still harassed by bombing, the two ships continued; Belvoir had a lucky escape when she was hit by a bomb that failed to explode; the unexploded bomb was later found deep in the ship, carried up on deck and unceremoniously dumped over the stern.

Petards next foray was with the Hunt class destroyers Rockwood and the Polish-manned Krakowiak. On 9 November her RDF picked up a vessel in the vicinity of Kalymnos Island which turned out to be a landing craft accompanied by two caïque

Caïque

A caïque , is the term for a traditional fishing boat usually found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Seas, and also a light skiff used on the Bosporus. It is traditionally a small wooden trading vessel, brightly painted and rigged for sail...

s packed with soldiers. The three ships opened fire with their main armament. Krakowiak then fired a star-shell over Kalymnos harbour, its light revealed a merchant ship, which was set on fire by the destroyers; Egan took Petard into the mouth of the harbour to confirm the destruction of the merchant ship and fire a torpedo at the harbour entrance. Aircraft on Cos were engaged by her four-inch guns. During the withdrawal Rockwood was hit by a glider bomb which failed to explode, but nevertheless started a fire; the damage was such that Petard was asked for a tow. With sporadic attacks still coming from the air, tow preparations were very quickly carried out. Temporary shelter was gained in a landlocked bay in Turkey. While there it was discovered that the bomb had torn through thawing beef, creating a gory scene which the damage-control party initially mistook for a massacre: Rockwood was eventually towed to Alexandria.

Petards last Aegean task on 19 November 1943 was to assist in the evacuation of British forces from Leros; but no escaping personnel were found. She was then ordered to Haifa for a boiler clean and leave over Christmas. This was to be followed by going east to engage the Japanese.

The Far East, part one

In January 1944 a fleet assembled in Alexandria and negotiated the Suez Canal for deployment to the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

 and the Pacific; Petard was in her usual escort role. Following extensive exercises and drills, there was a welcome break when the aircraft carrier Unicorn

HMS Unicorn (I72)

HMS Unicorn was a aircraft repair ship and light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. She was completed during World War II and provided air cover over the amphibious landing at Salerno, Italy in September 1943. The ship was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian...

and the battlecruiser Renown

HMS Renown (1916)

HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...

were diverted to Cochin in south west India on 24 January; Petard was part of their escort. Her arrival in Trincomalee

Trincomalee

Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...

, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

) on 28 January was marked by the contrast between the immaculate fleet and the patches and rust stains on Petard and Paladin. The two "P"s were banished to a nearby creek to 'paint ship'.

Petard had other worries; her main armament fired, among other types, semi-armour piercing (SAP) ammunition, but there was none to be had in Alexandria or Trincomalee; this shortage was to be noticeable before too long.

The two destroyers joined Convoy KR-8 in the Indian Ocean on the last part of its journey to Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

. While underway to meet it, they encountered a huge herd of whales which seemed to be fearless; there was a very real danger of collision as the ships tried to maintain their anti-submarine zig-zag. On 10 February the two destroyers left a refuelling point at Addu Atoll

Addu Atoll

Addu City is a city in Maldives consisting of the inhabited islands of the southernmost atoll of the archipelago....

 and sailed west along the equator to rendezvous with the convoy.

On 12 February Petard, now under the newly-promoted Commander Rupert Egan, was involved in the destruction of the Japanese B1 type submarine

B1 type submarine

The Type B1 submarine were the most numerous submarine class of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II...

 I-27 after it had sunk the SS Khedive Ismail

SS Khedive Ismail

The SS Khedive Ismail was a steamship sunk with great loss of life in 1944.The 7,513 ton steamship was launched as the Aconcagua by Scotts of Greenock in 1922. The Aconcagua passed into Egyptian ownership in 1935 and was renamed after Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt from 1863 until 1879...

, a troopship, with the loss of 1,297 lives.

The I-27 action

On a clear day and a calm sea, torpedo tracks were easily spotted heading for the troopships. The Khedive Ismail was hit and sank in minutes. Petard responded with a number of depth charge attacks, one of which, like the submarine, was close to the main group of survivors; these attacks were initially unsuccessful. However, after her third pattern, a larger than normal submarine (which turned out to be almost as long and have a greater displacement than Petard), was forced to the surface. Petard and Paladin (which had been picking up survivors), engaged the submarine with their four-inch main armament. Petard stopped firing when Paladin adopted a course to ram the Japanese vessel. Petard, whose captain was the senior officer, frantically signalled her sister-ship to abort the ramming, fearing fatal damage to her consort. Paladin complied and turned away from her intended 'victim', but her momentum took her broadside into the submarine's hydroplane, opening up a gash 15 feet long in Paladins hull.

With Paladin out of action, it fell to Petard to continue the attack, which she did with several close-range depth charge attacks; all to no avail, they could not be set shallow enough to cause any damage, but they did successfully divert the Japanese submarine's attention from the helpless Paladin. Petard pulled away to engage the submarine with her four-inch guns once more, but this was also ineffective: hits were registered, but they were with impact-fuzed shells due to the lack of SAP ammunition. Petard then tried a torpedo attack, but it took seven attempts before there was any sign of success. Two and a half hours had passed since the submarine was forced to the surface.

Douglas Vowles, a Leading Seaman operating "B Gun", spotted the I-27s log book floating in the water near the stricken submarine in the midst of a school of sharks that were corralling the Japanese survivors. Vowles recovered the logbook that contained much valuable information on Japanese activity in the Pacific. He was mentioned in despatches.

Petard then went to assist Paladin, transferring all survivors and towing the disabled destroyer 100–150 miles (sources vary), to Addu Atoll.

Home and more repairs

More escort duties followed, but they were uneventful. With Paladin homeward bound for repairs, Petard sailed to Bombay (Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

), where she enjoyed a nine-day break before leading two River class frigates: Plym

HMS Plym (K271)

HMS Plym was a River class frigate that served in the Royal Navy between 1943 and 1952.-Construction:Plym was built to the Royal Navy's specifications as a Group II River class frigate...

 and Helford, the Dutch ship Derg and convoy BA 66A to Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

. Her next job involved meeting the French battleship Richelieu in the Red Sea and escorting her (but only as far as Aden). On her return to Trincomalee in April, Petard was soon employed on sallies with capital ships in various groups. This training preceded Operation Cockpit

Operation Cockpit

Operation Cockpit was a bombing raid by aircraft from two Allied naval forces on 19 April 1944. The forces were made up of 22 warships, including two aircraft carriers, from the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, and United States Navy...

, a major diversionary attack to reduce pressure on American fleets further east. Petard joined Force 69, and took part in the bombardment of Japanese installations.

In late July Petard escorted a convoy from the Seychelles

Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

 to Aden. She was then instructed to sail alone for Britain; most of the crew had not been home for over two years. Just after passing through a strangely quiet Suez Canal, Petard sighted and recovered the crew, complete with hand baggage, of the American Liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

 Samslarnia in the eastern Mediterranean. The freighter had been torpedoed, but had not sunk. Part of her cargo was silver bullion.

After an overnight stop in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Petard arrived in Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 on 16 August 1944 bearing a total of 49 patches on her hull.

Following repairs and refit in dry dock, Petard set out for the naval base at Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

 with a new crew in early 1945. En route she had 13 ASDIC contacts with German U-boats in the Irish Sea, firing patterns of depth charges without result. Leaving the 'Flow', she was in transit to meet a Russian convoy, but diverted into dry-dock at North Shields to rectify damage to her propeller which had apparently been caused by her own depth charges. While she was there the war in Europe ended, but Petard had not finished yet. She was heading for the Far East once more. On her way out of the Clyde she passed surrendered U-boats.

The Far East, part two

Petard went into dry dock once more in Alexandria before passing through the Suez Canal, arriving in Trincomalee back at full war readiness.

In Operation Zipper

Operation Zipper

During the Second World War, Operation Zipper was a British plan to capture either Port Swettenham or Port Dickson, Malaya as staging areas for the recapture of Singapore. However, due to the end of the war in the Pacific, it was never fully executed. Some of the proposed landings on Penang went...

, the planned re-occupation of Malaya

British Malaya

British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...

, Petard was to be point ship. The Japanese surrender, following the atomic attacks at Hiroshima

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...

 and Nagasaki

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...

, meant that such operations would not be necessary. Despite their capitulation, it was not clear that all the forces of Nippon

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 would obey the surrender order, or indeed, knew about it. As a result, ships like the Petard maintained a high state of readiness. That caution seemed to be justified when, a week after VJ

Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...

 (Victory over Japan) day, the second 'yellow' air raid warning of the day was shown to be for a solitary Japanese reconnaissance machine, which flew off when approached by nearby carrier-borne aircraft.

Petard was kept busy with the aftermath of war; for instance she led the cruiser Cleopatra and the Royal Indian Navy

Royal Indian Navy

The Royal Indian Navy was the naval force of British India. Along with the Presidency armies and the later British Indian Army it comprised the Armed Forces of British India....

 cruiser Bengal through a narrow swept channel in the Malacca Strait, which had been marked by three Indian Navy minesweeper flotillas, towards Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. Her guns and men with rifles, were kept busy, firing many rounds at the floating mines that were released. Petard was ordered to intercept a Japanese destroyer that turned out to be called rather chillingly, Kamikaze. Taking a despatch case from the Japanese ship and ignoring a request for a receipt, she sailed back to the Cleopatra. She was then part of a force which included the cruiser Cumberland

HMS Cumberland (57)

HMS Cumberland was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.-Career:Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit...

, which was sent to Batavia (now Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

), in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

).

On her way back to Singapore after yet another escort mission, Petard ran into a tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

, which resulted in thousands of disoriented birds using the ship as a temporary perch. She was also involved in the uprising in Java; at one point ferrying Japanese POWs from Tandjongh Priok to an island near Singapore.

In all, Petard crossed the equator eight more times in the area of the Dutch East Indies before sailing once again to Trincomalee in late March, 1946. Over two months later, she returned to Portsmouth.

Post-war

Petard was placed in reserve in Harwich

Harwich

Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

 in September 1946, being moved to Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 in March 1951. In 1953 she was selected for conversion to a Type 16

Type 16 frigate

The Type 16 frigates were a class of British anti-submarine frigates of the Royal Navy. They were based on the hulls of World War II-era destroyers that had been rendered obsolete by rapid advances in technology...

 fast anti-submarine frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

, with the new pennant number

Pennant number

In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...

 "F26". She arrived at Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 on 29 April 1953 under tow from HMS Envoy; two days later she was towed to Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, arriving on 4 May. She was converted there by Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....

, being completed in December 1955. She was mothballed in Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 and towed to Devonport where she was laid up until 1960.

Petard was re-commissioned later that year and amongst other Home Fleet duties was used as a Sea Training Ship for Junior Seamen Trainees from HMS Ganges

RNTE Shotley

RNTE Shotley, known in the Royal Navy as HMS Ganges, was a naval training establishment at Shotley, near Ipswich in Suffolk. Starting in 1905, it trained boys for naval service until it closed in 1976, following the raising of the school leaving age from 15 to 16...

.

She was declared for disposal in May 1964; under the 1965–65 Naval Estimates, she entered Devonport dockyard on 31 January 1966 to de-equip and was broken up in 1967 by P.W.McLellan at Bo'ness

Bo'ness

Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a coastal town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth within the Falkirk council area, north-west of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Bo'ness had a resident population of 13,961...

.